Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Could Any Good Thing Come Out of the Practice of Slavery?

When I typed in " Antebellum Slavery" an article came up titled "Conditions of Antebellum Slavery" by PBS, that is the Public Broadcasting System, with the heading Resource Bank. There was no author listed, but the topic was people and events, 1830-1860. Now, to my question: Could any good thing come out of slavery?On the surface an unequivocal no, the horror of it being self evident. The PBS article certainly listed the obvious, all that was wrong about slavery, but the last paragraph in the article caught my attention, and I quote:"Many slaves turned to religion for inspiration and solace". It went on to say that some practiced African religions, but others practiced Christianity, even though they rejected the type of Christianity their masters practiced, because it justified slavery.The article went on to say: "...they (the slaves) spoke of the New Testament promises of the day of reckoning and of justice and a better life after death, as well as the Old Testament story of Moses leading his people out of slavery in Egypt." I recall many black spirituals (songs) which I learned as a child, that brought those themes out so well, don't you? And many of us in our day, turn to religion for what we need, just as did the black slaves on the plantations. The article ends "The religion of enslaved African Americans helped them resist the degradation of bondage." We are all under the bondage of sin and that is why we need a Savior to redeem us. Certainly there is a case to make that the slaves of 1860 set an example for us today.